POLOKWANE – The MEC for Transport and Community Safety Florence Radzilani has issued a directive to the police to ensure that the perpetrators of this morning’s torching of a Great North Transport (GNT) bus be brought to book.
Radzilani said she is seriously concerned about public protests that ‘allow themselves to be infiltrated by acts of thuggery and hooliganism’ as they are likely to lose their credibility and was reacting to the act of arson that left a GNT burnt to ashes.
The streets of Polokwane were brought to a standstill on Wednesday as residents from Seshego marched to the Polokwane Municipality over the ongoing water crisis.
Landdros Mare Street was strewn with debris as hundreds of protesters marched accompanied by taxis ferrying people.
The protesters then moved from the municipality to the N1 and blocked the national road with rocks. Public order police fired rubber bullets to try and disperse the crowd. Read more: WATCH: Chaos as rubber bullets fired near the N1 circle Radzilani has assured that government will ‘continue to do everything possible to protect the rights of its citizens including the right to conduct peaceful marches’. “It is for this reason that the police were dispatched to monitor the march and ensure that it remains a peaceful demonstration but what transpired was nothing short of chaos and anarchy,” she said. Radzilani added that a public asset like the GNT bus is supposed to be of service to the people and burning it is tantamount to treason. “This heinous act has the potential to spill to other parts of the country,” she said. Protesters have since dispersed from the N1 and it is unclear whether they will return to the municipality as their memorandum was not received by an official. The Polokwane mayor John Mpe is yet to comment on the matter.
